Senior SP leader and PWD minister Shivpal Singh Yadav is likely to contest the next Assembly polls from Etah to quell intense factionalism in the district unit. He is a sitting MlA from Jaswant Nagar seat of Etawah - the pocket burrough of the Yadav clan. The seat has earlier been represented by SP boss Mulayam Singh Yadav for seven terms.
The SP had won all four seats in Etah district in the 2012 Assembly polls and is regarded as a core influence area of the party other than neighbouring districts like Etawah, Auraiyya, Mainpuri, Farrukhabad, Kannauj and Ferozabad.
Sources felt that the party could retain all four seats in Etah only if it could harness the growing facitionalism within the district unit. The only remedy which emerged for putting the house in order was to field a heavyweight from the Yadav family.
A senior SP leader said, "Etah is like Azamgarh and Jaunpur for the party, where senior Yadav leaders are not on the same page and all want to maintain their respective dominance. The party won the 2014 Parliament polls from Azamgarh only because Mulayam Singh Yadav contested the seat. The same will happen in Etah if Shivpal Yadav contests from the district.’’
The leader added, "Shivpal Yadav is in search of a safe seat for the 2017 Assembly polls as his son Aditya Yadav is likely to be fielded from Jaswant Nagar seat. Etah being a bastion of the party, According to party sources Umashanker Patwa will be the party candidate from Basti Sadar seat while Dr Roli Mishra will be fielded from Agra South seat.
The SP has already announced candidates 145 seats out of the total 403 assembly seats so far. The leadership has however changed earlier announced candidates in four seats. It has withdrawn ticket given to Samarjeet Singh from Bindki seat of Fatehpur but no new candidates has been named.
In Fatehpur, Ms Rita Prajapati will replace Daljit Nishad from Ayyahshah seat while Vinod Paswan will be the new candidate from Khaga (Reserved) replacing Omprakash Gihar. Sources said that Kamal Singh Maurya will be the new candidate from Banda Sadar seat, replacing Devraj Gupta .